Prosperity Froggie

We would usually expect to see frogs or toads in our night shoots if it rained in the day. This night promised as such, as we set forth to locate the prosperity frog (it's just a name we gave it) after a day of rain.

#1 Found the prosperity froggy, thanks to Marcus and James. Nyctixalus pictus.

#2 Prosperity Froggie because it is orange. 大吉大利！

#3 Oblivious to our presence, we could even rotate the froggie around on the leaf without it jumping off. Extremely flat little froggie.

#4 Close up on the face.

#5 Placed the flash under the leaf to get an "X-ray" of the froggie.

#6 Marcus found another one!

#7 Looks the same alright

#8 Another close up

#9 This Wolf Spider (Pardosa sp.) mother was carrying her egg sac

#10 Going closer

#11 And closer!!

#12 Possibly a Kidney Garden Spider (Araneus mitificus)?

#13 Harvestman with a spikey green back

#14 Side view highlights the spikes

#15 Unique looking bug with cyan stripes on it's abdomen

#16 Usual scorpion on a tree bark

#17 Lighted with Ultra Violet

#18 Ultra Violet mixed with flash

#19 Not so common scorpion, Hemiscorpiidae?. Refused to stop moving. Some of them had smaller pincers, which I suspect to be females of the same species?

#20 Tiny tail, I wonder how it manages to sting the prey? Likely to swing from the side like a crocodile.

#21 Lighted with Ultra Violet again.

#22 Final shot. I was waiting for a mating pair but they just wouldn't come out from beneath the tree bark.

To find out why scorpions glow under Ultra Violet light, refer to my previous post:

• Why do Scorpions Glow Under UV light?

#23 Scarab beetle?

#24 Couldn't retract it's wings

#25 Two dragonflies at rest

#26 They were beautifully covered with dew


James blogged about this trip here.

The complete album can be viewed here.

Ovipositing Wasps

Oviposition is the process of laying eggs with little or no embryonic development within the mother. Some wasps need to lay their eggs inside foreign hosts. The mother goes in search of larvae of other bugs beneath the wood/bark using her antennae, and is able to pierce her ovipositor through to the foreign host to lay her eggs. (Source: Giant Ichneumon Wasp)

We found a tree with numerous wasps, possibly Stephanidae in various stages of oviposition. In fact, many of them were ovipositing again and again on the same tree, allowing us to witness the entire process. Unfortunately, many were also found way above our eye-level and we ended up with shots at weird angles.

#1 Top view of the wasp, possibly Stephanidae

#2 Close up on the head - a beautiful small red head.

#3 Side view of the wasp

#4 Beginning the "drilling" into the tree trunk with her extremely long ovipositor

#5 Rear view, showing that the ovipositor had already been pierced through a significant distance.

#6 Ovipositor completely driven into the tree trunk

#7 The wasp remained in this position for a few minutes

#8 Top view

#9 Another oviposition in progress while an ant comes by to disturb

#10 Final shot before we made our way into the trail

#11 Warming up with planthopper

#12 Another planthopper? Very cute, almost like a ladybird.

#13 A branch-hugging spider, likely to be a species of Dolophones (Araneidae). Kindly IDed by David Court.

#14 More of the abdomen can be seen in this pic

#15 View from behind.

#16 A beautiful planthopper nymph with the trademark "fibre-optic" tail.

#17 Lynx Spider (Hamadruas sp.) top view

#18 Front view

#19 Assassin bug

#20 Top view of the assassin bug

#21 A large tailless whip scorpion (Amblypygi)

#22 Full body view. The body alone spanned about 2cm. This was the last shot before the rain came pouring down.

James blogged about this trip here.

The complete album can be viewed here.

Micro Movements in the Cyrtarachne

2 years ago, I posted some examples of bugs which exhibit micro movements when they appear to be at rest when viewed with the naked eye. It was only much later that I managed to document this movement in the Bird Dropping Spider (Pasilobus sp. Cyrtarachne fangchengensis) when I found one and actually remembered to shoot it. :P

• Observing the Micromovements of Bugs (Oct 2010)

Note: ID corrected to Cyrtarachne fangchengensis according to the Singapore Biodiversity book.

#1 The Bird Dropping Spider (Pasilobus sp. Cyrtarachne fangchengensis) with an unidentified fly plastered onto the abdomen

#2 The micro movements. I do not have any verified theories to these movements, but my first thought was that it was due to the movement of digestive juices in the spider. David Court had suggested that it could also be a anti-predator warning device.

#3 A juvenile Huntsman Spider

#4 Unidentified eggs, looked like golden eggs!

#5 Female Wolf Spider (Pardosa pseudoannulata?) carrying an egg sac

#6 Front view of the same wolf spider

#7 A Jumping Spider (Siler sp.) captured this planthopper nymph while we were observing it.

#8 It loved to raise it's 2 fore-legs in this manner. To ward off predators perhaps?

#9 Yes, still doing it. Surrender? lol

#10 Back view. Very colourful abdomen

#11 Top view. We were hoping that this was a peacock spider, but it was not to be. :P

#12 Relatively large Crab Spider (Angaeus rhombifer)

#13 Top view of the crab spider

#14 Unidentified caterpillar, with a very stout body and vibrant colours

#15 Better view of the patterns on it's body

#16 Close up of the head

#17 A very small Spitting Spider (Scytodes sp.)

#18 Leaf-like Katydid

#19 Male Huntsman (Heteropoda tetrica)?

#20 Face shot to show the eye arrangement

#21 Cute little ladybird

#22 Tree Stump Orb Weaver (Heurodes turritus) or Poltys sp?) ID provided by David Court.

#23 Side view of the tree-stump wannabe. The abdomen is thinner than the previous ones that I had shot before:

• Looking Like a Tree Stump.... Spider (Oct 2011)
• Hunt for the Tree Stump Orb Weaver (Jun 2010)

#24 Managed a portrait shot. This was already focused to infinity with the Raynox 250 slapped on.

#25 Another Crab Spider (Angaeus rhombifer)

#26 Front view of the eyes.

#27 This spider caught my eye with the jade-green abdomen. Probably a Kidney Garden Spider (Araneus mitificus)

#28 Unidentified fly?

#29 Wandering Spider (Ctenus sp.) on the ground, munching on a roach

#30 Found this dead Mantidfly on the way out of the trail. :(


The complete album can be viewed here.